"Goatscaping" growing on one park

GREENE COUNTY, Ohio (WDTN) - They're office may be the great outdoors, but just like in any office, everybody has an opinion about the new employees.

"They're easy to move in and they're easy on the eye," says Chrisbell Bednar, Director of Greene County Parks and Trails.

"They're getting friendly," says Chanel Betts with Buck-I-Hillz Farm.

"They're fat," says one kid visiting the park.

Call them whatever you like, just don't call them late for dinner or lunch or any meal for that matter.

"The amount of vegetation they started consuming in the first day was just tremendous," Bednar says.

They call it "goatscaping", not to be confused with scapegoats. These guys are model employees at Greene County Parks and Trails.

"No need for labor negotiations, no need for a pay check," says Greene County Parks Commissioner Tony Sculimbrene. "Just give them plenty of things to eat and they're happy."

For the last few days they've been devouring history, not only because this is the first park in the region to use the goats, but also because they're munching on the Williamson Indian Mound.

The mound was built by the Adena in roughly 500 B.C., but in modern times it's been harder to maintain.

"Probably the most important thing is it's a lot easier for goats to climb this hill than it is the guy on the machine, so it's a lot safer," Sculimbrene says.

The goats are here because of a chance taken by a husband and wife team at Buck-I-Hillz Farm.

"He didn't want calves, didn't want horses, so he decided to go into the goat business," Betts says of her husband Owen.

The 17 goats they leased to the park district have yet to bite off more than they can chew.

They've already cleared parts of the mound, while winning some new friends around the office.

"They're doing a really good job," says one kid visiting the goats.

The goats will spend another week at the mound before moving on to another spot in the park system.